We had a beautiful blustery day today heading south out of Friday Harbor. After hearing reports of whales south west of San Juan and heading further SW we blazed on out off of Hein Bank! We were kindly greeted by a group of 10-12 traveling Orcas, all members of L-Pod. Having a wonderful photographer on board we were able to document and identify several of the whales we watched! Baba (L-26), Crewser (L-92), Ballena (L-90), Wave Walker (L-88), and the large male known as Gaia (L-78). It's always so amazing when you are able to identify these animals; we are able to tell who is who by the unique shape of their saddle patch (the white patch underneath their dorsal) and dorsal fin. Once we have identified individuals in the pod we are able to show passengers how each of these L-pod members are related with our matriline catalogs, it's very often that these animals travel and are sighted in groups that they are most closely related to.
Making our way back towards Friday Harbor we came across a very large group of stellar sea lions all hauled out and sunbathing on 'Whale Rock', with a smaller group of harbor seals hanging on the other side. So cool to see the HUGE size distinctions between these two species! Little harbor seal heads continued to pop out of the water all around our boat as we headed on in from this amazing day out on the water.
Alex
San Juan Safaris
Naturalist